Opportunity has reached Endeavour!

We’ve lost poor Spirit, but intrepid little Opportunity keeps motoring along.

NASA reports that Opportunity has after a 3 year portion of its already 8 year anabasis has crawled up to Endeavour crater, 14 miles in diameter.  We should be able to see older rocks there.

Here is a view of a portion of the crater’s rim.

It is a good thing that Spirit and Opportunity were launched when they were and not after the last Presidential Election.

And don’t forget to buy some Zagnut bars to enjoy during the coverage!

QUAERITUR: Do you suppose after all that crawling, Opportunity would like some….

Mystic Monk Coffee?

Refresh your supply now!  Don’t forget that you can make iced coffee with Mystic Monk Coffee.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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10 Comments

  1. ghp95134 says:

    Father,

    Are you certain that is Mars? It looks like Fort Irwin, CA (National Training Center) … where I spent 3 years …. Our northern border was Death Valley!
    http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/27/ntcguyoc.jpg/

    –Guy

  2. Elizabeth D says:

    I agree, I also thought, that is Mars? It looks like just a place! This landscape could have turkey vultures in it, or banthas.

    Startling this rover is still roving. I wonder if the white in the foreground is ice.

  3. UncleBlobb says:

    Yes, how amazing to see a landscape of another planet!

  4. JohnE says:

    I’ve been there! That’s along I82 in SE Washington state.

    [ROFL!]

    Fr. Z's Gold Star for the Day

  5. chironomo says:

    It would be useful to have something to establish scale…my impression is that those mountains in the background are considerably larger than we would think, as we tend to think in “earth scale”. And those small rocks in the foreground….are they a few inches across, or many feet across? And how far is it to those first “small rocks”? 15 feet? 3/4 of a mile? It’s difficult to tell.

  6. irishgirl says:

    That looks like the California desert; Death Valley, perhaps. I like JohnE’s description better, though-more clever! ; )
    But this picture is so cool! I’m glad that little Opportunity is still going strong!

  7. BobP says:

    If they could only find some Roman inscriptions, it would make my day. :)

  8. RichR says:

    Simply amazing. And this is one spot on a whole world that has been in existence from the dawn of creation….untouched by man. Just stop and think about that for a second.

  9. jaykay says:

    Thanks for this Father! I’d never have seen it otherwise.

    Rich R: yes! I couldn’t stop thinking of the hymn: “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the works thy hand hath made…”

    Chironomo:
    “my impression is that those mountains in the background are considerably larger than we would think,”

    Isn’t that just the rim of the crater itself, actually, not mountains?

    If they are mountains, I agree, they are nice rolling hills (not unlike many of those we have here in Ireland). Well, except for the colour, of course. Oh yeah, and the oxygen as well…

  10. ContraMundum says:

    @RichR

    I think there is potential for a good science fiction story that would hinge on the idea that God gave man dominion over Earth, but not over other planets.

    For the record, I think the grant of dominion applies to all the physical universe, but for a story one could argue otherwise. As a practical matter, of course, we certainly lack any effective dominion over any place outside Earth. My guess is that it would cost about $1,000,000,000,000 to give an astronaut a 50% chance of surviving a trip to Mars and back. (One NASA estimate is for half that amount.) For the foreseeable future, the trillion-dollar obstacle will be harder to overcome than the technical obstacles.

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